Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
D espite the smile on his lips, Daniel felt nothing but a bubbling anger beneath. He kept his arm tightly around Patience, walking back the way that he had come, and praying that Lord Milthorpe had been able to secure Lord Newforth.
Recalling how the maid had practically flung herself into his drawing room, Daniel went hot all over, remembering how he had been indignant with the maid, and had tried to demand that she leave the room at once. The butler had followed in after her, apologetic and determined to fetch the maid back again. Had it not been for Lord Milthorpe’s interruption, then Daniel might never have heard what the maid had come to tell him. Lord Milthorpe had been the one to give Daniel pause, to suggest that they listen to the lady, given the state of her upset, and thus, with frustration still brewing within him, he had done so. That frustration had quickly turned to fright, and then to fear, as he had practically run from the room, tearing down the hallway and into Lord Milthorpe’s waiting carriage. Lord Milthorpe and the maid had followed closely behind and, within moments, they had begun the drive to where Patience was now being held by Lord Newforth. The maid had, thankfully, known the name of the street they were to go to, having discovered it from the hackney driver she had used to take her to Daniel’s townhouse. Daniel had fought against his rising fear as the hackney made its way there, fearing for Patience, for what he would discover when he reached there, and praying that Lord Newforth would have done nothing to ruin her.
Sweat broke out on his forehead as he glanced at the waiting carriage, remembering the moment that he had leaped from it, seeing Patience running as hard as she could down the street with Lord Newforth following her – though, for whatever reason, his steps had been slow and stumbling. He recognized now that it had been the strike of the poker against his head that would have caused such a thing, finding himself almost a little glad that the fellow had been himself caused pain, given all that he had intended to do. Rushing after Patience as he had done – and hearing Lord Milthorpe shout that he would get to Lord Newforth – Daniel’s heart had ached for her, desperate for her to turn and see that it was he who called for her, not Lord Newforth. The moment she had done so, he had seen abject relief on her face and, hurrying to her, Daniel had wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms. She had practically fallen into him and, as he had held her tightly against him, Daniel had silently sworn that he would never let her go from his side again.
“Are you sure that you wish to do this?” Looking down at Patience, Daniel took in the whiteness of her cheeks, aware of just how much she needed to have his arm around her at the present moment. “You need not, Patience.”
Her blue eyes caught his.
“I want to.”
With a nod, Daniel set his shoulders and then walked towards Lord Milthorpe who was standing in the doorway of what appeared to be a somewhat dilapidated house.
“Milthorpe? Where is he?”
“Inside.” Lord Milthorpe jerked his head in the direction of the door. “I thought that he must have come from this place, for the door was wide open. Lord Newforth was not particularly difficult to catch, given the injury to his head and thus, I led him back to this place without concern. He is now resting in the small room inside.”
“Resting?” Catching the twist of Lord Milthorpe’s lips, Daniel lifted one eyebrow. “I can hardly think that he is doing such a thing willingly.”
“Oh, he is not.” Lord Milthorpe chuckled darkly. “The door to the room within had a key. I now have it in my possession.” So saying, he pulled a key out of his pocket and dangled it between thumb and finger. “Do you wish to speak with him?”
Daniel glanced again at Patience but choosing not to ask her again if she truly wished to do this, nodded.
“I think we should all go in.”
Lord Milthorpe nodded.
“Very well. Then come with me.”
With trepidation in every step, Daniel followed Lord Milthorpe, wondering just how angry Lord Newforth would be, and what he might do because of it. Would they open the door to a furious whirlwind of a man? Would he try to break through them all and escape? Daniel gritted his teeth. He had no intention of letting Lord Newforth go anywhere.
“If you are quite ready?”
With a nod in answer to Lord Milthorpe’s question, Daniel kept his arm tight around Patience as Lord Milthorpe went on to open the door. Pushing it back, he stepped inside, leaving Daniel and Patience to follow, and Daniel did not hesitate.
Lord Newforth, however, did not come rushing at them as Daniel had expected. Instead, he was sitting on the only chair in the dank, dirty room, his jaw jutting forward and fire burning in his eyes. His gaze, however, did not linger on Daniel, but instead turned to Patience.
“ You did this to me!” So saying, he pulled a bloodied handkerchief away from the side of his head and then gestured to it with the other. “ You !”
Daniel opened his mouth to retort, only for Lady Patience to answer. With a shrug, she tilted her head and looked at Lord Newforth, a calmness in her which astonished Daniel utterly.
“I hardly think that you can blame me for it, Lord Newforth. After all, you did attempt to kidnap me, and intended to hold me here, in this room, until the entirety of the ton thought that I had eloped with another gentleman or some such thing.” She shrugged. “I did warn you that you would fail. I confess that I am surprised that you did not listen to me, for I spoke the truth.”
Lord Newforth’s lip curled.
“Do not think that you have succeeded, Hastings.” His eyes turned to Daniel, dark pools of fury that threatened to drown Daniel. “I will never give up. You will suffer the consequences of refusing me your sister’s hand.”
Daniel shook his head, aware that all of Lord Newforth’s threats, his desire to have Daniel suffer, came from a sense of mortification, fury, and bloody-mindedness. He had taken Daniel’s refusal as a personal insult – and now required Daniel’s punishment in whatever form Lord Newforth wished.
“You are a fool, Newforth.” He spoke quite calmly but with great emphasis. “Do you truly think that wasting your time in pursuing me in this manner, given how many times you have failed, is worth your while?”
Lord Newforth shook one finger in Daniel’s direction.
“Ah, but I shall succeed! No matter what it is that you think to do to me, I shall never give up! Not until the insult has been repaid.”
“Refusing you his sister was no insult,” Lord Milthorpe began, only for Daniel to hold up one hand, silencing his friend. Releasing Patience gently, he took a few steps closer, a settled determination in his chest.
“You are not a gentleman of any worth,” he said, quite calmly. “I did not insult you by refusing you my sister’s hand, for you bring such insults upon yourself by your own behavior! Is it not right for me to care for her, more than I would think of you, and what upset you might take from my refusal?” When Lord Newforth said nothing, Daniel shook his head. “You have barely any fortune left of your own, Lord Newforth. You have a wrath in you that, even now, warns me away from you. There is nothing about your character that would encourage me to even think of you as a suitable match for her - and if you wish to take that as personal insult, then I cannot help that.”
“But you will suffer the consequences of it.”
“I will not.” Daniel looked over his shoulder to where Patience stood, waiting. “You have failed, and you will fail again. I have found a happiness here that I am sure you cannot, and will not, ever be able to understand. No matter what it is that you try, then ultimately, you will fail.”
Lord Newforth scoffed at this, pressing the handkerchief back to the side of his head.
“Your reputation, one way or another, will be ruined, and with that, your happiness. You will have to remove from society and never set foot in it again!”
A quiet laugh from behind Daniel made Lord Newforth’s scowl return in an instant, darker than Daniel had seen it before.
“Oh, Lord Newforth, you must have a very poor understanding of what happiness is.” Continuing to speak, Patience made her way towards Daniel, taking his hand in hers, though her gaze was fixed on Lord Newforth. “Happiness does not come from having a pristine reputation. Nor does it come from being a part of society! What you did not know is that Lord Hastings has desired to remove himself from society ever since you attempted to force his hand and thus, it will not be any trouble to him – or to me, for that matter.” Turning her head, she looked up at Daniel, her eyes shining with a brightness that Daniel knew came from within her heart, for he felt it too. “That is why we say you shall fail, Lord Newforth. Even if you do all that you can to bring our reputation into the dirt, our happiness in what we have found in one another will remain. It will be steadfast, no matter what else assails us.” Looking back at Lord Newforth, she lifted her shoulders lightly and then let them fall. “Even if you had secured me in this place for many days as you wished, even if the whispers about me had swirled through London, Lord Hastings would not have abandoned me.”
“Never.” Daniel put one arm about her waist again, seeing how Lord Newforth began to blink rather quickly, his gaze darting from Daniel to Patience to Lord Milthorpe and back again. It was as if he had never even thought of such a scenario, where he might succeed in his efforts but, at the same time, ultimately fail.
“And I can say the same about myself and Isabella.” Lord Milthorpe smiled as Daniel threw him a glance. “I would never abandon her, would never turn away from her, no matter what you tried to do to Lord Hastings and the standing of his family name.” He let out a wry laugh. “Not only are you poor in funds, Lord Newforth, but it seems that you are also poor in happiness, in friends, and in genuine affection. And that shall be your heavy burden to carry for as long as you choose to bear it.”
A sudden thought came shooting into Daniel’s mind as Lord Milthorpe spoke.
Poor in funds?
He caught his breath, seeing Patience look at him with wide eyes, perhaps wondering what had made him respond so.
And then, Daniel spoke.
“Though, that being said, I do not much like what it is that you have tried to do to my family and now, to my betrothed,” he said, as Lord Newforth turned his head away. “This shall come to an end, Lord Newforth. You will not pursue us any longer in this manner. Lady Winters, it seems, has abandoned you, and brought her efforts to an end, given the failure of her attempt to be of aid to you. Thus, I think that you shall have to follow suit.”
Lord Newforth threw himself to his feet, his face quickly turning a shade of crimson.
“Never,” he grated, his eyes narrowed slits. “I shall never –”
“I think you shall.” Daniel cleared his throat and broke into Lord Newforth’s retort. “For do you not recall that you owe me a great deal of money?”
This made Lord Newforth stop short. The color in his face began to fade as his eyes rounded, staring back at Daniel as Daniel smiled quietly.
“Lord Newforth owes you money?” Patience asked, as Daniel nodded. “How can that be?”
“I have only just remembered it,” Daniel confessed, feeling a little embarrassed. “With all that has happened, it quite went from my mind. But yes, before Lord Newforth even came to speak to me about Isabella, he and I played cards with a small group of gentlemen.” Seeing the way that Lord Newforth took a small step back, Daniel let his lips curve. “You recall now, I think? Yes, it was an evening of cards that lasted a long time, for you were most insistent on another game, and then another, gambling more and more and more as you tipped brandy after brandy down your throat.”
A small, choked sound came from Lord Newforth’s lips.
“I have the vowel you gave me,” Daniel continued, a sense of relief sweeping through him as he recognized that, finally, he had the upper hand. “A vowel which was taken to the Jerusalem room, if I recall correctly?” Knowing that this meant the vowel was a legal debt, and one that Lord Newforth could not escape from, Daniel’s spirits lifted as Lord Newforth shrank back. “I think that I require it to be fulfilled, Lord Newforth.”
The gentleman shook his head.
“I – I cannot.”
“But you must. You will lose all honor if you do not… and if you cannot pay the debt, then I shall be forced to inform society of it.” Daniel’s jaw tightened as a flash of anger broke in him again, recalling all that Lord Newforth had done. “You have used society for your own ends, Lord Newforth, and I now do the same. Pay me what you owe, or all shall know of your debt and your shame. Then you shall see just how many of them listen to you as you try to demean my name and reputation.”
Lord Newforth opened his mouth to say something, but could only stammer, his brow furrowing, his eyes jumping from place to place as he sought a response, but nothing came out. With a deep breath, Daniel turned on his heel and, taking Patience with him, walked from the room.
“It is over,” he said quietly, leading her out of the dark room and back to the light outside. “He can do nothing now. If he dares speak ill of me, then I shall show the ton my vowel and that will be enough for them to surmise the reason for his actions.”
“And if he does not pay you?”
Daniel led her back towards the carriage.
“I care not about the money. I want him to fade away, to move himself back from society, and from us, so that I need not ever think of him again.” Releasing her so that she might climb up into the carriage. “I have all that I need, Patience. And I have it all in you.”